1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to home networking. More specifically, the present invention relates to describing the contents of a time-shift recording buffer as a series of home network objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Home networking has advanced from the early days of merely linking computers and printers to the modern home network, which can include mobile devices, televisions, set-top boxes, home appliances, heating/cooling systems, etc.
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is a distributed, open networking architecture that allows devices to connect seamlessly and to simplify the implementation of networks in the home (data sharing, communications, and entertainment). UPnP achieves this by defining and publishing UPnP device control protocols built upon open, Internet-based communication standards.
UPnP has grown in popularity of late in part due to the rise in popularity of media servers. Media servers are self-contained computing devices that store multiple types of content (e.g., photos, music, videos, etc.). The content may then be streamed over the home network from a media server to one or more rendering devices that will play the content. Control points obtain information about content (also known as metadata) and command the media renders to accept content. A control point may be integrated with (contained within) a rendering device such as a network-enabled Digital Television Receiver (DTV), or may be a separate controller which directs a media rendering device to obtain content from a media server.
Personal Video Recorders (PVRs), also known as Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), are devices that record video in a digital format to a disk drive or other non-volatile memory medium within a device.
A time-shift buffer is a block of memory that temporarily records a limited amount of currently tuned signals. Unlike a PVR, a time-shift buffer is typically “always-enabled,” i.e., the end-user does not need to take any explicit action to enable recording to take place. Once the length of the buffer has been exceeded (the buffer size is typically measured in time, such as 60 minutes), the portion that is older than the buffer time is automatically discarded.
Set-top boxes are devices that accept external signals and convert these inputs to forms viewable on digital television receivers. Examples of set top boxes include cable boxes and satellite receivers.
Network-enabled set-top boxes are devices that make received content available on the home network. These set-top boxes can contain value-added features such a PVRs and/or time-shift buffers to improve functionality delivered to end-users.
UPnP current provides specifications to control PVRs over a home network. This specification is referred to as the UPnP ScheduledRecording service. UPnP also currently provides specifications to publish media objects over the home network. This specification is referred to as the UPnP ContentDirectory service.
One of the media objects the ContentDirectory service can make available on the home network is an Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) object. This object describes a broadcast program in terms of its start and end times, its channel or address on the network, its title, and description.
One of the media objects the ContentDirectory service can make available on the home network is a VideoBroadcast (Channel) object. A Channel object describes a streaming content (broadcast) source that may be transmitted over the home-network to media rendering devices. A channel object may contain additional information about the channel, its channel number, and call-sign, for example.